Figures of Speech

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Simile
An explicit comparison between two unlike things that yet have something in common.
Example: I assumed a posture like a question mark.

Metaphor
An implied comparison between two unlike things that yet have something in common.
Example: On the final exam several students went down in flames.

Personification
Investing abstractions or inanimate objects with human qualities or abilities.
Example: The ground thirsts for rain.

Symbolism
The use of abstract concepts, as a way to obfuscate any literal interpretation, or to allow for the broader applicability of the prose to meanings beyond what may be literally described. Many writers, in fact most or all authors of fiction, make symbolic use of concepts and objects as rhetorical devices central to the meaning of their works. Example: Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism throughout his writing.

Onomatopoeia
Representation of a sound by an imitation thereof Example: A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch And blue spurt of a lighted match.

-- Robert Browning

Alliteration
Repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables Example: on scrolls of silver snowy sentences

Consonance
It is the repetition of consonant sounds in a short sequence of words, Example: the "t" sound in "Is it blunt and flat?"

Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within a short passage of verse or prose. Example: Try to light the fire. He gave a nod to the officer with the pocket. "When I get shocked at the hospital by the doctor when I'm not cooperating when I'm rocking the table while he's operating. Eminem Hear the mellow wedding bells. Edgar Allan Poe Mankind can handle most problems.

Pun
Use of words, usually humorous, based on (a) the several meanings of one word, (b) a similarity of meaning between words that are pronounced the same, or (c) the difference in meanings between two words pronounced the same and spelled somewhat similarly Example: They went and told the sexton and the sexton tolled the bell.

-- Thomas Hood

Hyperbole
The use of exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.
Example: His eloquence would split rocks.

Litotes
Deliberate use of understatement, not to decieve someone but to enhance the impressiveness of what we say. Example: I am a citizen of no mean city.

Antithesis
The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure.
Example: Though studious, he was popular; though argumentative, he was modest, though inflexible, he was candid, and though metaphysical, he was orthodox.

Juxtaposition
when two images that are otherwise not commonly brought together appear side by side or structurally close together, thereby forcing the reader to stop and reconsider the meaning of the text through the contrasting images, ideas, motifs, etc. Example: He was slouched alertly.

Paradox
An apparently contradictory statement that nevertheless contains a measure of truth. Example: Art is a form of lying in order to tell the truth.

Pablo Piccaso

Oxymoron
combining incongruous or contradictory terms Example: a deafening silence and a

mournful optimist

Metonymy
Substitution of the name of an object with a word closely associated with it. Example: "The pen is mightier than the sword"; pen is a metonym for "discourse/negotiation/persuasion" and sword is a metonym for "war". "The White House", to refer to the President of the U.S. and his or her advisors. "The press", to refer to the news media (especially newspapers). "A dish", to refer to an entree.

Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword).

Metonymy vs. Synecdoche

When the distinction is made, it is the following: when A is used to refer to B, it is a synecdoche if A is a part of B and a metonym if A is commonly associated with B but not a part of it. Thus, "The White House said" would be a metonymy for the president and his staff, because the White House (A) is not part of the president or his staff (B), it is merely closely associated with them because of physical proximity. On the other hand, asking for "All hands on deck" is a synecdoche because hands (A) are actually a part of the men (B) to whom they refer. There is an example which displays synecdoche, metaphor and metonymy in one sentence. "Fifty keels ploughed the deep", where "keels" is the synecdoche as it takes a part (of the ship) as the whole (of the ship); "ploughed" is the metaphor as it substitutes the concept of ploughing a field for moving through the ocean; and "the deep" is the metonym, as "deepness" is an attribute associated with the ocean.

Asyndeton
Deliberate omission of conjunctions between a series of related clauses. Example: I came, I saw, I conquered.

Julius Caesar

Polysyndeton
Deliberate use of many conjunctions.
Example: This semester I am taking English and history and biology and mathematics and sociology and physical education.

Parallelism
Similarity of structures in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.
Example: He tried to make the law clear, precise, and equitable.

Though studious, he was popular; though argumentative, he was modest, though inflexible, he was candid, and though metaphysical, he was orthodox.

Anaphora
Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses. Example: We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.

Winston Churchill

Epistrophe
Repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses.
Example: As long as the white man sent you to Korea, you bled. He sent you to Germany, you bled. He sent you to the pacific to fight the Japanese, you bled.

Malcolm X

Anadiplosis
Repetition at the beginning of a phrase of the word or words with which the previous phrase ended Example: He is a man of loyaltyloyalty always firm.

Epanalepsis
Repetition of the beginning word of a clause or sentence in the end. The beginning and the end are the two positions of stronger emphasis in a sentence, so by having the same word in both places, you call special attention to it. Example: The king is dead, long live the king.
Severe to his servants, to his children severe.

Inversion / Anastrophe
Inversion of the normal syntactic order of words Example: echoed the hills" to mean "the hills echoed"

Antimetabole
Repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order. Example: Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

John F. Kennedy

Ellipsis
Deliberate omission of a word or of words which are readily implied by the context.
Example: And he to England shall along with you.

Hamlet, III, iii, 4

Irony
Use of words in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the word. Example: For Brutus is an honorable man. So are they all, all honorable men.

Julius Caesar, III, iii, 88-89

Rhetorical Question
Asking a question, not for the purpose of enlisting an answer, but for the purpose of initiating thought or reflection on the part of the reader/listener. Example: How can the poor feel they have a stake in a system which says that the rich may have due process but the poor may not?

Edward Kennedy

Apostrophe
an absent person, a personified inanimate being, or an abstraction is addressed as though present Example: Envy, be silent and attend! Alexander Pope

Allusion
An indirect reference to some piece of knowledge not actually mentioned. Allusions usually come from a body of information that the author presumes the reader will know. Example: An author who writes, She was another Helen, is alluding to the proverbial beauty of Helen of Troy.